A Vietnamese company will produce diapers and sanitary pads in the Mariel area

Havana, March 26 (EFE).- A Vietnamese company will produceDisposable diapers andsanitary pads in Cuba starting in the first half of 2019 in a plant installed in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), the largest project on the Island dedicated to attracting foreign investors.

The general director of the companyThai Binh Investment Trading CorporationVi Nguyen Phuong explained to the island's media this Tuesday that the investment in the project, currently under construction, is estimated at more than 9 million dollars and is expected to produce 40 million diapers and 150 million sanitary pads annually.

The Vietnamese company, with a presence in Cuba for almost 20 years and approved to settle in the Mariel Area since 2016, has set the goal of "providing local consumers with high-quality items made in Cuba," according to its representative, cited by island media.

In Cuba, where there is not yet a disposable diaper factory, It had already been announced last November that a Cuban-Italian joint company will build a plant to produce diapers disposables in the ZEDM, the business center and merchant port located about 45 kilometers west of Havana.

The disposable diapers sold in the island's currency stores are imported and are frequently sold out due to the high demand for this essential health product.

The Vietnamese executive also revealed that her company plans to extend its investments in Mariel with the construction of a detergent powder plant with the capacity to manufacture 50,000 tons per year.

This new project will be a mixed company created in association with the Cuban commercial company Industrias Nexus S.A., a proposal that they plan to present next April to the Mariel Office with the objective of starting in 2020.

Thai Binh Investment Trading Corporation is one of the 34 clients from 16 countries with investment projects approved by Cuba in the ZEDM, which has raised more than 1,191 million dollars so far, according to official data.

The most represented countries are Spain, Cuba, Brazil and France, with three projects each, followed by Belgium, Mexico and Holland that have two companies, while El Salvador, Vietnam, Panama, Canada, Puerto Rico, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and South Korea only one company.

Cuba has indicated that for its economic development it needs to attract approximately 2.5 billion dollars in foreign direct investment annually, mainly in 15 key sectors such as industrial, agri-food, tourism, mining, biotechnology, oil and renewable energy.

Presented at the end of 2013 -although construction began in 2011-, the Mariel Special Development Zone, located 45 kilometers from Havana, is the business center and merchant port where the island wants to locate most of these projects.

Since its creation, the ZEDM has generated 4,888 direct jobs and the Cuban Government has invested annually an average of 300 million dollars to guarantee the development of "high-standard infrastructure," according to official figures.